This may already exist but I didn't see it around, get a good idea about what albums other huge Guardian fans prefer. Have owned all of them for years, and love every track off every album but here are my personal favorites. I like old school metal so I tend to like the older stuff more.

1. Battalions Of Fear (Was one of the first metal albums I bought along with Nightfall In Middle-Earth, was glad I could get it signed by Andre and Marcus last time they were in Montreal. Will always be my favorite BG album)

2. Tales From The Twilight World

3. Nightfall In Middle-Earth

4. Imaginations From The Otherside

5. The Forgotten Tales (More of a compilation but the covers are prime and I love this version of Lord Of The Rings. Nearly put Twist In The Myth down but I had a change of heart. Tough to decide!)

Yeah, I figured that may be a bit unethical. As for an actual album I'd say Follow The Blind then, like that one, dont see why its so underrated. I'll go with that one instead, love At The Edge Of Time too of course but I'll always prefer the old school stuff.

ANATO
IFTOS
NIME
ATEOT
ATITM/SFB (couldn't decide which one I like more)

Now I'm riding through the air
Going to where no one dares
On the way I cross the line forevermore.
For once in life, I do not care
Nothing matters, now I dare
On the ride I'll cross the line
Forever to be free

The first place is easy, the rest, puh, it's quite close, but here's a try:
1. Somewhere far Beyond
2. Tales from the Twilight World
3. Nightfall in Middle-Earth
4. Imaginations from the Other Side
5. Follow the Blind

I know this says top 5. Well, I'll give the top 5, as well as the rest, (though I have to say I like all of their albums a lot.)

1.Somewhere Far Beyond
2.Tales from the Twilight World
3.Imaginations from the Other Side
4.At the Edge of Time
5.Battalions of Fear
6.Follow the Blind
7.A Night at the Opera
8.Nightfall in Middle-Earth
9.A Twist in the Myth

I also like Tokyo Tales a lot, and The Forgotten Tales quite a bit as well. But I didn't want to include those with their studio albums.

1: Imaginations from the Other Side
2: At the Edge of Time
3: Tales from the Twilight World
4: Somewere far Beyond
5: A Twist in the Myth

My favourite individual tracks are on Nightfall in Middle Earth and a Night at the Opera, but I generally like my top 5 more as complete and balanced albums. And Follow the Blind is the only album that has a few tracks that I do not like.

1. Nightfall In Middle Earth
2. A Twist In The Myth
3. At The Edge Of Time
4. Imaginations From The Other Side
5. A Night At The Opera

Blind Guardian is one of the rare, if not the only, band who is getting better and better with every single release (although you never believe, after hearing the newest album, that anything better could possibly be made)

http://www.gedichtblog.deThey say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway.
They say that life's a game, then they take the board away.
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
Then leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret...

1. Nightfall in Middle-Earth
2. Imaginations from the Other Side
3. Somewhere Far Beyond
4. Beyond the Red Mirror
5. At the Edge of Time
6. Tales From the Twilight World
7. A Night at the Opera
8. A Twist in the Myth
9. Battalions of Fear

1. Somewhere Far Beyond (9.9/10)
2. A Night at the Opera (9.75/10)
3. Imaginations From The Other Side (9.7/10)
4. Nightfall In Middle Earth (9.3/10)
5. Beyond The Red Mirror (8.9/10)
6. At The Edge of Time (8.8/10)
7. Tales From The Twilight World (8.5/10)
8. A Twist In The Myth (8.4/10)
9. Battalions of Fear (8/10)
10. Follow The Blind (6.5/10)

Anything above 8 is considered a great album, reaching 9 means a truly amazing favorite, 10 is essential god-tier perfection

1. Somewhere Far Beyond - coincidentally, my first exposure to Blind Guardian, and probably my favorite album of all time
2. Nightfall in Middle Earth - such an ambitious album with dense, dynamic compositions. Probably their most well-rounded album and hey, it's all Tolkien
3. Imaginations from the Other Side - don't have much to say about this album, it's great throughout
4. Tales from the Twilight World - when this album is on, it's ON, but some of the songs, while still good, fall flat (Goodbye My Friend, Tommyknockers)
5. Follow the Blind - a speed/thrash frenzy with the title track being Blind Guardian's most atypical song. It's on my list of top 5 BG songs. Oh, and I think Banish from Sanctuary is probably one of the best opening tracks of all time.

Might as well fill in the rest:

6/7. Battalions of Fear/A Twist in the Myth (it changes, love the modern sound of ATITM but also love the old school speed of BOF)
8. Beyond the Red Mirror
9. A Night at the Opera
10. At the Edge of Time

Follow The Blind
A Night At The Opera
Beyond The Red Mirror
A Twist In The Myth
At The Edge Of Time

Very hard to choose the order as these are all so amazing, it's crazy to me that ATEOT is ranked last as it is so damn incredible but that is all you get from this band. Truthfully the only one of these that was simple enough to choose was that I love Follow The Blind more but the last four could be put in any order really.

I'm surprised to see At the Edge of Time ranked at the bottom It has some incredible songs but also some skippable songs.

My top 2 favorites are Imaginations from the Other Side and Nightfall in Middle-Earth. It's hard for me to rank the rest the albums since they are all pretty much equal for me. But the albums I have been listening to the most lately are the 2 aforementioned albums plus Beyond the Red Mirror, At the Edge of Time, A Night at the Opera, and A Twist in the Myth.

It is tough to rank that one the lowest but to me it has Sacred, Tanelorn and Wheel Of Time, and the middle part as great as it is doesn't shine like many of the tracks on Twist In the Myth do. A Night At The Opera is underrated and overlooked but I see it as mostly an at home album with the exception of Silence, still it's timeless. Would like to see more live off that one. I find Beyond The Red Mirror has even better cuts and still a lot of growing time ahead so for now it seems ATEOT ranks at the bottom but I always take the old shit over the new, and there is never any filler, just songs that outweigh others. Everything they've ever done is quite miraculous.

I have never attempted to answer this question. And I'm struggling to do so. But let's see.

1. Imaginations from the Other Side
2. A Night at the Opera
3. Nightfall in Middle-Earth
4. Beyond the Red Mirror
5. Somewhere Far Beyond
6. At the Edge of Time
7. A Twist in the Myth
8. Tales from the Twilight World
9. Follow the Blind
10. Battalions of Fear

They are all nearly identical in score within the top five. After that the margin of difference becomes increasingly huge with each number. That said, I view each album as a separate entity. They are mutually exclusive. I listen to them at different times for different reasons. It'd be like rating my moods and surroundings and activities more than the albums themselves.

1. Imaginations from the Other Side
2. Tales from the Twilight World
3. Beyond the Red Mirror
4. A Night at the Opera
5. Nightfall in Middle-Earth
6. Somewhere Far Beyond
7. At the Edge of Time
8. Follow the Blind
9. A Twist in the Myth
10. Battalions of Fear

Hard to leave any off the list really, even the live albums deserve a spot. Really tough to only put ANATO at #5(feels like it should be #3) but in the last few months I cant stop listening to BTRM and ATEOT

Though you could really list the first four in any order and I wouldn't consider it "wrong". The fifth place is a really close call between Somewhere Far Beyond and At the Edge of Time. The best songs on SFB beat anything and everything AtEoT has to offer, though every now and then I still feel that as a full album AtEoT has the edge (pun intended)

1. Somewhere Far Beyond (favorite song is Journey Through the Dark)
2. Tales from the Twilight World (favorite song is Goodbye My Friend)
3. Nightfall in Middle Earth (favorite song is Noldor)
4. Imaginations from the Other Side (favorite song is Bright Eyes)
5. At the Edge of Time (favorite song is Sacred Worlds)

I'm going to violate the topic title and just list them all, since I just ran through their discog again for the first time in years.

Nightfall in Middle-Earth - While the top 3 are all close for me, I think this album still edges (no pun intended) out my no. 2. Great songs, great melodies, pacing, variety. In my opinion, their peak in combining experience and inspiration.

At the Edge of Time - 22 years after their first album, and I think they still managed to put out some of their best material. I love this album for the same reasons as NiME. Maybe not quite as inspired, but their additional experience in crafting songs makes up for it. Compositionally, Wheel of Time might be the strongest song they've made, and my current favorite.

A Night at the Opera - Taken as a group of individual songs, this album might be above AtEoT on my list, but as a whole album it can be a little much. The over-the-top wall of sound production makes the songs great individually, but it also makes it tiring to listen to all the way through, especially without slower, quieter songs to break up the pacing a little. Still fantastic.

Imaginations from the Other Side - Their first masterpiece, kicked off the best period of their career (not that I think they've fallen far off that). Just damn good, end-to-end classics.

Beyond the Red Mirror - Stylistically in a similar vein as AtEoT, but the melodies just don't hook me as much as other albums. Still very good, with some really excellent songs. They did a great job using the orchestras to support the guitars and vocals.

A Twist in the Myth - A solid album. It has a lot of great, catchy melodies (more so than BtRM I think). Overall, though, the high points don't reach quite as high, and ATitM isn't quite as consistently solid as BtRM. Quality-wise, this album sort of bridges the gap for me between their later, truly amazing material, and their earlier, generally good but not incredible material.

Somewhere Far Beyond - Quite good. I don't think I had given this album enough credit. The album where I think they really refined their distinctive sound.

Battalions of Fear - Used to be second from the bottom for me, but I've increasingly appreciated the guitar riffs and melodies. Guitar-wise, I don't think they really matched this until at least SFB, maybe IftOS. Funny that Hansi is easily the weakest part of the album for me. Even so, I enjoy the album.

Tales from the Twilight World - The album where they first found that "Blind Guardian sound," with the big choruses and epic feel. It's pretty decent, but although the vocals are greatly improved, the guitars took a step back from BoF. Too much playing straight palm-muted power chords, not enough riffs and melodies. Andre really improved his compositional style on future albums.

Follow the Blind - The only BG album that really just makes me go "Ehhhhhhhh." It's good that they were looking to push their sound in new directions from the outset, but they pushed it in a kind of boring direction for the second album. A few good songs and Hansi's a little better, but there's not much here to catch attention. Honestly surprised to see this make people's top 5's

'Nowhere has this renunciation of man's transience been more joyous or uplifting than in the medium of airport carpets.'